The pros and cons of a stuttering run-up are under debate after two crucial penalty misses in the Carabao Cup last 16.<\/p>\n
Chelsea<\/a> midfielder Valentin Barco missed the Blues’ fourth penalty in their entertaining shootout defeat by Liverpool<\/a> when he hit the post after a stuttered run-up.<\/p>\n Xabi Alonso’s side would be in the EFL Cup quarter-finals had he scored, but they crashed out as defender Wesley Fofana sent one in sudden death high into the Kop at Anfield.<\/p>\n Barco’s miss came after Arsenal<\/a> midfielder Bruno Guimaraes had his spot-kick saved after a similar ‘stutter’ run-up as the Gunners crashed out against League Two Fleetwood Town<\/a> on Tuesday night.<\/p>\n Both were shown how to do it by Liverpool<\/a> defender Joe Gomez – a player who has never scored a senior goal in 319 professional appearances – who rifled the winning penalty into the top corner after a simple run-up.<\/p>\n Players opt for the stutter in a bid to trick the goalkeeper into giving them a clue as to which way they will dive.<\/p>\n The problem is it can backfire spectacularly if the goalkeeper holds their nerve or – in Barco’s case – the taker fails to hit the target.<\/p>\n Former Chelsea<\/a> defender Cesar Azpilicueta told ITV: “Every player picks his style where he feels confident, and for Valentin Barco, I believe that is his way of shooting it. I don’t believe that was his first time, I hope not!”<\/p>\n The ‘stutter’ penalty became a theme of this year’s World Cup<\/a>. There were 26 at the summer’s tournament but 11 were missed.<\/p>\n The stop-start run-up technique does not have a strict definition but a player is allowed, under Fifa rules, to stop or feint in the run-up as long as they don’t do it directly before kicking the ball.<\/p>\n Even Harry Kane tried it in the summer and missed. His stuttering run-up led to Croatia goalkeeper Dominik Livakovic saving his penalty in England’s 4-2 win.<\/p>\n But because Livakovic came off his line early, Kane got a retake and smashed it home with a straightforward approach.<\/p>\n Arsenal<\/a> and Brazil midfielder Guimaraes was one of those 11 to miss at the World Cup but did not change his approach at Fleetwood.<\/p>\n Some players have used it to their advantage. Brazil icon Pele was famous for it while Cristiano Ronaldo has used it with both success and failure.<\/p>\n Manchester United<\/a>‘s Bruno Fernandes, former Chelsea<\/a> and Arsenal<\/a> midfielder Jorginho and Wolves striker Raul Jimenez<\/a> are others who often use the ‘stutter’ style.<\/p>\n “I wouldn’t allow it if I was a manager,” former Liverpool<\/a> midfielder Danny Murphy told TalkSport on Wednesday after Arsenal<\/a>‘s defeat the night before.<\/p>\n “It is ridiculous, self-indulgence, a player trying to be the centre of attention.<\/p>\n “When they do the stutter they think the keeper might go, but they aren’t going that early, they aren’t being tricked any more. It is naive.”<\/p>\n But former Liverpool<\/a> and Chelsea<\/a> full-back Glen Johnson had a different view and pointed to the fact that Barco missed by mere inches.<\/p>\n “I like the technique,” he told ITV. “It gives the players a bit of time.<\/p>\n “W what confused me about that one [from Barco] is usually players are watching the keeper. He has moved, he has got it right and gone the right way but lifted it in the air for no reason.<\/p>\n “You have the whole goal to shoot at and that is the surprising part. He has already beaten the goalkeeper, he doesn’t have to hit it into the top corner.<\/p>\n “If he puts that ball three inches to the right you would say it is the best penalty you have seen.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The pros and cons of a stuttering run-up are under debate after two crucial penalty misses in the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":898306,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[69],"tags":[403,99],"class_list":["post-898305","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-soccer","tag-soccer","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/898305","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=898305"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/898305\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/898306"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=898305"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=898305"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=898305"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}